24"l (61 cm). Rectangular-shaped Noah's Ark is fancifully painted with shaded red roof decorated with bird on a branch, painted sides to suggest shuttered windows, architectural supports and decorative borders, red slatted base; a wooden cubicle is built out on one side and a sliding panel allows access to the interior. Included with the Ark are six wooden people with painted costumes (including Noah wearing an unusual Admiral's cap and uniform); 72 pairs of animals,44 pairs of birds and owls,5 pairs of insects (250 total figures). Each figure is painted in extraordinary detail in a combination of realism and fantasy, and the collection includes such rare figures as peacocks, anteaters, antelopes, Rhesus and proboscis monkey and beetles. The collection is outstanding and all original (a small strip of wood is missing on foundation, three birds each lack one leg, and a few minor flakes) as though never played with, all colors brilliantly preserved. Included with the collection is an original paper document, in German, French and English, listing 250 figures that could be obtained for the ark. Given this document, the unusual large size, the extensive variety of rare figures and the immaculate original condition, it is probable that the Ark was used as an Exhibition model only and stored since that time. Germany, circa 1860.